Killer quake that never was

In almost every league table of catastrophic earthquakes, the Calcutta disaster of October 1737 figures somewhere near the top, with a death toll of 300 000. But according to Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado at Boulder, the earthquake never happened. He blames its current league-topping status on exaggerated reporting by the journalists of the time, and on the failure of later writers to check original sources. Local accounts written at the time indicate that Calcutta was not hit by a quake but by a hurricane - which claimed 3000 lives.

Bilham began to investigate the Calcutta quake after an insurance expert told him that 300 000 people could not have died in the disaster because not enough people were living in the area at the time. By the time of the first official census in 1757 Calcutta still had only 45 000 residents.

Bilham traced today's widespread misunderstanding ...

To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.

To continue reading this article, log in or subscribe to New Scientist

App + web

Web

Smartphone

Tablet

$25.99 - Save 65%

12 issues for $2.17 per issue

with continuous service

Print + web

Print

Web

$28.99 - Save 61%

12 issues for $2.42 per issue

with continuous service

Print + app + web

Print

Web

Smartphone

Tablet

$39.99 - Save 73%

12 issues for $3.33 per issue

with continuous service

Web

Web only

$49.99

30 day web pass

Prices may vary according to delivery country and associated local taxes.